The scenery was much greener than yesterday, with more farmland.   The road was also pretty good too, and it was great to cruise along.   Since the area was greener, there was a lot more wildlife and we had slow down for Kangaroos a few times early on in the drive.   More wildlife meant more roadkill, which meant more crows on the road.   Generally the crows are very good at getting out the way of cars.  I thought i had narrowly avoided one that flew across my path, but sadly when we arrived at Lake Cargelligo, there was a dead crow stuck in my front bumper.

Lake Cargelligo was quite nice and we took some photos at the boat ramp in town.   After that, we continued along Lachlan valley way to Condoblin for breakfast.   On our way into the town we had a look at Utes in the park, which is art based on old utes.  We were able to drive past them all in our cars to check them out, so we didn’t even need to stop.

After Condoblin we continued along Lachlan Valley way to our next stop of Forbes.   Forbes seemed to be quite a busy town although it was just a quick break.   We continued along the Lachlan Valley way until we reached our lunch stop at Canowindra.   Canowindra had some really nice old buildings in the town.   We refuelled there and had our meeting point at the Blue Jacket Hill lookout.  The lookout was well worth it, there were amazing views of the whole area.  

After lunch we continued to take back roads towards Sydney.  We didn’t go into any of the major towns.   The backroads were great, with lots of sweeping bends and hilly sections.   At Perthville we joined the same road that we took on the 2024 drive, and continued through the backroads towards our final destination at Lake Lyell.   Literally 10km from the end, we reached a section of road that was being totally re-graded requiring a 6km section of unsealed road bed and mud.   Normally these sections are fairly common, but we had managed to avoid them for this entire trip.

At Lake Lyell we said our goodbyes and then headed home our separate ways.  Since Victoria pass is closed, we all had to go through the town of Lithgow.  Some of us went over Darling Causeway and home via the great western highway.  I took Bells Line of road and the back roads through Galston gorge. I had a pretty cruisy trip home, but the owner of the white 280CE was nearly cleaned up by an inattentive SUV driver.   Welcome back to Sydney.

By the time I reached home, I had covered 4,358km for the trip and 692km for the day.   It had been a great trip, and the 450SE proved to be a great car to take on it.

The post Bay to Birdwood – Day 8 – Lachlan Valley Way appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

As we went to leave, I had a small issue with my car.  As I went to start it, it didn’t catch first time and then all the electrics in the car were dead.   This had happened twice before our trip, and once the day before.  Before the trip, I had assumed it was probably the ignition switch and replaced it as a precaution.  Normally I would prefer to investigate issues further, but it seemed prudent to change it.

When this happens, the key does nothing and none of the warning lights in the dash come on.  Eventually If I leave the car alone for a few minutes, all is well.   Since its not the ignition switch, I suspect something to do with the starter solenoid.  I don’t have the wiring diagram with me, but I seem to recall the main positive feed on the cars from this era goes through the solenoid.  I will need to check this when I return.   In any case, the car fired right up after waiting and we were able to leave.

There were obviously a lot of classics driving around the area as we left, so we continued to spot interesting cars as we drove.  Our first waypoint was Murray Bridge.   The road that took us over the final part of the Adelaide Hills was really good.   After that we emerged through green farmlands before reaching the town of Murray Bridge.   We crossed the bridge and headed north.

Our next section skirted the south bank of the Murray River.   The scenery was really good and the road quite twisty.    We passed through Cowirra and Five Miles, before taking some photos at a boat ramp.   Eventually we reached the small town of Swan Reach for a quick break.

After swan reach, we drove up onto an elevated plateau with longer straighter roads that took us into Loxton.  Including the Bay to Birdwood, we had covered 336km and 2,306km since we left Sydney.

We refuelled the cars and checked into our hotel.  Check in took a while as a group of golfers were unhappy with the rate they got from the hotel.    Dinner was at the hotel and we all reflected on what a great day it had been attending the Bay to Birdwood and how we would all be very happy to attend again in a few years.

The post Bay to Birdwood – Day 5 – Birdwood to Loxton appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

After the rain and fog of the drive up from Sydney it was a beautiful clear day, although cold at first.  Our first leg was to Grenfell which was about 160km and two hours.  This is quite a nice road with undulating terrain and nice sweeping curves.  While there were some trucks on the road, it was not busy.   My W116 cruised along very nicely.

At Grenfell, our destination was the Chrysler Museum.   It contains just under 20 cars and they range from the thirties to recent models.   The main focus is on Australian built Chryslers from their golden era in the 60s and 70s.   The owner of the museum is also the owner of most of the cars and very passionate about them.  We had a tour and learned a lot about the cars, including many Australian firsts for Chrysler.   He does not share the same enthusiasm for Holden or Ford!

The 1933 Royal 8 coupe was probably my favourite, although the original Charger with only 28,000km from new was very impressive also.   The museum costs $10 to enter and one of our group called ahead a few weeks ago and set up the tour.   It is well worth it.

After the museum, we had breakfast in a café recommended by the owner of the museum, and then snapped a few photos of our cars at the Grenfell Silo art.

From Grenfell, we left the major reads and headed towards Temora for a fuel stop.   These roads went mostly through farm country or bush and while there was the odd truck, we mostly had the roads to ourselves.   At the fuel stop I recorded about 13l / 100km which I think is pretty good for a 450SE.   From there we continued on some of these back roads down to Canola way which is much busier.

Before we reached it, the Corvette cut out randomly.   It coasted to the side of the road but after a few minutes was able to start up again.   However, once we got onto Canola way, it broke down again.  The shoulders were not especially safe to stop, so a few of us stayed with the stricken Corvette while the rest of us went about 2km ahead to find a safer place to stop and wait.   The Corvette was throwing codes about a mass airflow sensor, which was the first area of investigation.  Both groups were attacked by relentless flies while we waited.

After about 30 minutes, the Corvette still wasn’t starting.  The rest of us decided to proceed to the next major town, Narrandera.  This was our planned stop and if the Corvette still wouldn’t start somewhere we might be able to find a mechanic to have the Corvette towed to.   However, about 10 minutes later the guys discovered the fault.  a connector that provided power to the coil was lose.  Plugging that back in had the Corvette back on the road.

We had a late lunch in Narrandera and then hit the road again, this time towards Griffith.   It was about an hour long drive and was uneventful.   It had become quite hot and the air-conditioning of the 450SE was keeping me very cool.  Our destination was Resto Pros, a restoration shop near Griffith.   One of our group had phoned ahead and organized a tour for us.

We were all very impressed by the Resto Pro’s operation.   The owners of the business were very friendly and gave us a comprehensive tour.   The quality of the workmanship seemed top notch.   While it looked like they would restore a wide variety of cars (such as the 20s Citroen we say), the main focus seemed to be Australian or American cars.   We saw a 1940 ute that had two and half years of painstaking body restoration.    Since the cars belong to customers, the team at Resto Pros asked us not to post photos of the cars on social media, so this article does not include any.

As we went to leave, the Corvette refused to start.   The was a horrible grinding sound from the starter.   We tried tapping it and moving the back and forward in gear, all to no avail.   The owner of the car got underneath and the starter seemed to be loose and a bolt missing.   Access isn’t easy on a Corvette but he managed to get it tightened up after a while.  This is where having some extra daylight hours at the end of the day really helped.  We may not have heard the last from the Corvette though, as the air conditioning compressor is making an ominous sound.

We then refuelled the cars.  I got 16l/100km this time.  We went a little faster and there was more air-conditioning use in the afternoon.   We ended up covering 504km for the day, and went to have Pizza at a local Italian restaurant.  It was a great day, although unfortunately I seem to be coming down with a cold.

The post Bay to Birdwood – Day 1 – Bathurst to Griffith appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The last few years I’ve had to work on the day, so have arrived very late in the evening.   This year I left early at around 11AM.   I was fresh from having my air-conditioning gassed up and ready to set out.  My starting point odometer was 118,328km.   We had already collected our merchandise a few weeks before, so I already had my magnets on the side of the car, ready to go.

I’m actually not using my factory odometer.  The speedo cable must have kinked when the instrument cluster was re-installed in my car.   It only lasted about 4km driving it home.  Taking out the cluster when I arrived home, the inner metal rod is no longer there.   Instead, I had Claud AI build me a mobile app to be my makeshift speedometer and odometer on my old phone.  I now have two phone holders, one for navigation and one for speed and distance. The second phone does not have a SIM installed but that is not necessary for GPS.   When I return and get another speedometer cable, I will have to adjust the milage to make sure it is correct.   So far it is working quite well!

While the forecast is better for tomorrow, it was fairly wet leaving Sydney.  I also encountered thick fog on the way up the Blue Mountains.  Traffic was fairly heavy due to the continued closure of Victoria Pass.   However, despite all that the W116 was smooth and comfortable, and my newly repaired air-conditioning kept the windows clear.     I took my time for the drive and arrived a bit before 3.

We are staying at the Knickerbocker Hotel, a pub in central Bathurst.   Our group started arriving throughout the evening and we had dinner at the pub where they had quite a good chicken schnitzel special.   All the cars made it without too much incident, although the 1985 280CE wasn’t running all that well and even managed to backfire on the way up.   The theory is that the air slide is not closing properly.   We’ll see if a good run sorts this out.

The Corvette also arrived without issue, but it has an achillies heel, in that the tyres are an almost impossible size to get in Australia and the spare is very old.   The Mercedes with 14″ wheels (my 450SE, both 280CEs and the 280SL) can all share spares at a pinch. Still, we’ve not had any tyre issues before, and many punctures can be repaired.

In any case, everyone is here, and we are all ready to start our trip tomorrow.   I drove 224km, including to go and get the car re-gassed.

The post Bay to Birdwood – Day 0 – Sydney to Bathurst appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The idea behind it is to take 1,500 cars older than 30 years old and drive them from the coast in Adelaide up to the National Motor Museum in Birdwood.   The event is known for attracting many pre-war cars and is a little under 70km long.

Our trip will have 8 cars ranging from 1978 to 1994.

• 1978 280CE 123
• 1978 450SE 116
• 1982 500SL 107
• 1982 280SL 107
• 1985 280CE 123
• 1987 Chevrolet C4 Corvette
• 1988 300E 124
• 1994 E280T 124

Our past trips had always been made up of Mercedes-Benz cars.  That wasn’t any particular requirement, it was more how it turned out since everyone in the group knows each other through the Mercedes-Benz club.   However this year we have our first other marque – a C4 Corvette.

As usual we have the usual merchandise including magnets for the doors of our cars, and optional things like caps and shirts.  This will be our second trip to South Australia.   The first was to the Mercedes-Benz club National Rally back in 2022.

The Way There

Day 0

As usual, the actual start of our road trip is outside Sydney.   It doesn’t work to battle Sydney traffic getting out, and everyone lives in different locations. Each participant will make their own way to Bathurst for an early start the next day.   Since Victoria Pass is still closed, everyone will need to go through Lithgow.   The distance for me is about 220km.

Day 1

Our trip starts in Bathurst and we’ll head out towards Grenfell, passing through the towns of Blayney, Carcoar and Cowra.   We’ve done this route before and it is quite pleasant.   At Grenfell, we will have breakfast and attend the Chrysler Museum.

After the museum, we’ll head to Narrandera via Temora for Lunch.    At Narrandera we’ll explore the town before heading towards Griffith, where we’ll check out a local restoration shop, Resto Pros.   We’ll cover around 472km.

Day 2

Day two takes us through southern NSW and various Riverina towns.  Our first step is Jerilderie for breakfast.  The next stop takes us to the town of Moulamein, on the river.   We’ll refuel there, before heading to Balranald.   At Balranald we’ll have some time to explore the town, including Balranald Southern Cross, a museum that has a full sized repical of Charles Kingsford-Smith’s aircraft.  

After lunch we’ll head to our destination of Mildura.  Total distance 554km.

Day 3

Day three takes us briefly into Victoria before we cross over into South Australia.     We’ll roughly follow the Murray river, going through towns like Morgan and Renmark.   After that we’ll drive south through the Adelaide hills through Kapunda and Hahndorf before our final destination of Strathalbyn.  We will have covered 550km.

Day 4

Day four is the easiest day of our trip   We spend the morning in Strathalbyn, checking out Collectable Classic Cars, a local car dealer and Gilberts Motor Museum.   We’ll then head into Adelaide via Echunga and the Angas River Scenic Drive, staying near Glenelg.   We only drive 62km.

The Return Home

Day 5

Day 5 is the actual Bay to Birdwood Event.   As relatively modern cars, we’ll see the much older vehicles leave first, before doing the route.   Then we drive with the rest of the cars to the National Motoring Museum to the finish festival, where we can see all the cars lined up and check out the museum.

After we leave mid afternoon, we’ll drive through the lower Murray area and include towns like Murray Bridge, Cowirra and Swan Reach.   Our final destination is Loxton and we will have driven around 333km, including the event.

Day 6

Day six takes us through three states, passing into Victoria and losing 30 minutes due to the time zone change.   We then head across to breakfast in Merbein. 

After Merbein, we cross over into NSW before taking the Silver City highway north through Wentworth, before turning off into Pooncarie road, which was recently sealed in 2024.    Pooncarie road generally follows the Darling river, through Pooncarie where we will stop for a break and then Menindee and the famous lakes.

After Menindee there it is inland to Broken Hill, where we will stop for the night. We may do a  side trip to Mundi-Mundi lookout for the sunset, if the timing works and we feel like it.   Total distance for the day is 582km, assuming we do the side trip.   

Day 7

Day seven is the most remote driving of our trip.    We’ll leave Broken Hill and head East on the Barrier Highway.  We’ll drive through Wilcannia, stopping only for fuel.  

Once we pass Wilcannia, we’ll turn off onto the Cobb highway, which was fully sealed in 2023.  We’ll continue until we hit Booligal where we will have lunch at the pub.   

After lunch, we’ll continue down the Cobb Highway until Hay, where we will stop to explore the town. The final leg takes us to Hillston where we will stay for the evening and enjoy a succulent chinese meal as usual on the last evening of the trip.  

Given the remote areas on long straight roads, Day 7 is the longest distance we travel at 759km.

Day 8

On our last day we’ll leave Hillston and head back towards Sydney.   Our first stop is Condobolin for breakfast and to get there we’ll pass the town of Lake Cargelligo. 

Before we get to Condobolin, we’ll stop at the Utes in the paddock before having breakfast in the town.  

We’ll then take a drive to Forbes and check out the town and refuel, before taking the roads through to Lake Lyell which will be the point we all go our separate ways.   Day 8 will be 524km in the group, my my total distance is around 682.   

The post Planning a 4,200km road trip to the Bay to Birdwood appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The formula for these trips has remained the same across all four.  A max of 10 classic cars, each over 30 years old.  The cars should be able to cruise at 120km/h and could be from any marque, although so far they have all been classic Mercedes-Benz.   We avoid motorways at all costs and focus on the back roads and out of the way towns.  We attempt to drive only on sealed roads.

This year was a little different.   Instead of having a centrepiece event like the first three, it was more of a roadtrip through northern NSW and outback Queensland.  We did it in winter as some of these areas are flooded or extremely hot in summer.  Longreach was the furthest point of our trip, but not the core of the trip like the Adelaide Rally, MBCV Concours or the Euroa show.

As with the last three, our trip was a big success.  We all had a great time and all the cars and drivers returned home without incident.

Our Route

A full description of our route is available here.   We started in Maitland, avoiding the Sydney traffic on day one.   The goal of the way up to Queensland was to take some of the great roads that cross The Great Dividing Range.   This included the Oxley Highway, Waterfall Way, The Gwydir Highway, Bruxner Highway and Mt Nebo.   Each were different ranging from tight twisting corners to sweeping bends.   Most of them had great views and interesting places to stop.

On the way up we would also take in the National Transport Museum at Inverell.

Once we passed Brisbane, we were into the outback portion of our trip.   In some areas it was hundreds of km between towns and service stations.   There were 53.5 meter road trains to pass and different scenery as we pushed further inland.

We stopped at Longreach to check out the Qantas founders museum, before turning back the inland route.   Some of these roads were even more deserted.   As we returned, we passed well known towns such as Lightening Ridge, Coonable, Coonabarabran and also went through the Warrumbungle National Park.    We finished our adventure driving through Bylong Valley and the excellent Putty Road.   Our total distance over eight days was 4,950km.

The Cars

A full description of each of the cars and how they went is available here.  They were all Classic Mercedes ranging from 1978 to 1993.  All but one was on historic rego.  All the cars were 126, 123 or 124 models.

There were seven cars that completed the trip, with an additional car, a 1989 420SEL, making a cameo appearance.  Each of them completed the journey on its own four wheels.   We had a few minor issues along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be solved at the side of the road, or lived with for the journey.

Over the seven cars, three had participated in previous road trips and the rest were making their debuts.   The Lapis Blue 380SEC has done all four trips and has travelled 15,900km across them.

On this trip we pushed the cars pretty hard – on the way up through the twisty sections and on the way back passing road trains.   They all performed brilliantly.

The Drive

We all made our way separately to Maitland on the Friday afternoon and evening.  In keeping with the spirit of the trip, I avoided the motorway and took the back roads into town.   A few of us met up for dinner in Maitland, and then got an early night ready to roll out the next morning.

The next morning, we left very early as we had to drive further than expected due to a landslide on Thunderbolts Way.   Leaving early allowed us to witness a really nice sunrise as we left Maitland.    Highlights of the day were the Oxley highway which had some really tight corners and twisty sections, and Waterfall way which was more cruisy but also good.    We stopped at Ebor falls to admire the waterfall and then took the back roads into Grafton.   A more detailed overview of Day 1 can be found here.

The next morning we left at our more usual time at 6:30AM and headed to the Gwydir highway for another great road over the great dividing range.   The bends were not as tight on the Gwydir highway, making it a faster road.   After taking the Gwydir highway, we headed to Inverell to visit the National Transport Museum.   Our afternoon drive kept us going north on the New England Highway and then the Bruxner highway which was quite good.   We finished in Boonah, Queensland.   A more detailed overview of Day 2 can be found here.

Day three we started with a very foggy day and skirted Brisbane, before taking Mt Nebo road over the range again.   After that we cruised past Lake Wivenhoe and stopped at Cormorant Bay, which was a lovely spot.   We continued north until our lunch in Nanango, where our friend from Brisbane had to return home.  After Lunch we had some great road that were really deserted and we hardly saw a town for 300km.   We finished the day in Monto.   A more detailed overview of Day 3 can be found here.

Next day we headed west, into outback Queensland.  We covered the longest distance today, but the roads were mostly straight and flat so speeds were higher than the twisty roads of the last three days.  Our breakfast spot was in Moura, and then we headed through some of the outback towns of Emerald and Rolleston.   We stopped at a couple of lookouts, the one at Virgin Rock was the better of the two.   In the afternoon we headed to Barcaldine.   This was mostly a straight flat run, with plenty of road trains to pass.   A more detailed overview of day 4 can be found here.

For day five, we headed into Longreach.  We checked out the town and attended the Qantas Founders Museum.   After that we drove the short distance to Ilfracombe to see the Machinery museum and have lunch.   After lunch we started to head south, stopping at Blackall and then to our final destination for the day, Tambo.  As with the day before, the roads were mostly open, with just the odd road train to pass.    A more detailed overview of day 5 can be found here.

Day 6 was a short day.  We were in a very isolated part of Queensland and there were few towns.   We stopped in Morven for breakfast and a refuel, before heading to our final destination in St George.  While we covered over 500km, we passed few towns and the roads were pretty empty other than the road trains and the occasional land cruiser.  A more detailed overview of day 6 can be found here.

On our penultimate day, we crossed the border back into NSW.   We stopped at the towns of Dirrenbandi, Lightening Ridge and Walgett, before having lunch in Coonamble.   After lunch we headed over to the Warrumbungle National Park.   The road through the national park was pretty good, as was the view from Whitegum lookout.   After Whitegum lookout we headed to the Observatory at Siding Springs, which had good views, and also the virtual solar system tour.   Our final evening stop was Coonabarabran, which seemed like a vibrant town, where we had a succulent Chinese Meal.  A more detailed overview of day 7 can be found here.

The final day took us southwards from Coonabarabran.  We saw the rest of the virtual solar system, before taking Bylong Valley road to our lunch destination at Jerry’s plains.   After witnessing a Police operation, we stopped for lunch and were joined by a couple of the guys from last year’s drive who couldn’t make it.  A few of our group had to leave early, and missed a great final drive through the Putty road into Windsor.  A more detailed overview of day 8 can be found here.

By the time we returned, we had passed 4,950km for the trip.  Our group of high mileage Classic Mercedes had taken us on a grand adventure.

The post Longreach Trip – Summary appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

We we drove south, we were greeted with a very impressive full moon.   The countryside was pretty similar to yesterday.  Very flat, with medium sized trees and some bush areas.   Some parts had no undergrowth at all, just medium sized trees.  I don’t know if this was because of flooding or fire or some other reason.

The bakery at Dirrenbandi had some quite interesting Russian pastries and sweets for sale.   After breakfast, we crossed the border and continued on towards Lightening Ridge.  Of course being in NSW we were greeted with a speed camera warning sign and worse roads.   The scenery was much the same, the vegetation mostly bushes and small trees.

We stopped for about an hour at Lightening Ridge to refuel and and look around.   I was a bit surprised that given the driving was quite easy, my car had the worst fuel economy of the trip at 16l/100km.   Lightening ridge was full of Opal stores, and we went into a couple to look around.  There were also mine tours, but you needed more time to do those.   Having heard it was a really interesting, place, it was a bit disappointing.

After we left Lightening ridge, we drove another hour or so to Walgett.   We did a brief stop here to take a few photos in front of a water tower mural.   After Walgett, the vegetation started to get thicker and the farms were more about crops than cattle.   During the drive I passed 4,000km for the trip, and over 20,000km since purchasing the 560SEL   We continued on to our lunch stop at Coonamble.

Continuing the trend from breakfast, our lunch cafe had some quite interesting desserts for sale, various bars and brownies plus Lebanese style desserts.  Walking around Coonable, it was clear that the town had gone through some kind of boom from 1928-1930 as nearly all the buildings in the main street harked from that era.   However, many of them were either for lease or boarded up.  It felt like a town that had fallen on hard times.   I parked in front of a magnificent art deco cafe location, complete with art deco mirrors, windows, bar and booths for customers.   It was for lease, as were so many of the stores.

After lunch, we headed out of the town to wars Warrumbungle National Park.  As we headed out of town it became apparent that I had missed a 20km section of unsealed road.   We were lucky it was pretty smooth and the weather was good.

As we got closer to Warrumbungle national park, we could see the the totally flat country give way to to what looked like a mountainous region.   Sticking up from the top of it and very apparent was the siding springs telescope.

Once we finished the unsealed section, the road up through Warrumbungle national park was quite good.   We stopped at Whitegum lookout, where there were amazing views of the scenery below.  I didn’t know that Warrumbungle national park is an old volcanic formation from millions of years ago.  Its quite apparent when you are there to see it.

After admiring the view, we drove the short distance to Siding springs telescope to see the Telescope up close.  We didn’t do the whole tour, but the views from this area were quite good too.   In addition, they had a ‘virtual solar system’ there there is a too scale map of the solar system based on distances.   The Sun is at the telescope parking lot.   Mercury is just outside the carpet.  Venus is halfway down the hill to the main road, a couple of kilometers away.   Earth is almost at the main road, and Mars is a little way down it.   Then it is about 20km before you hit the to scale model of Jupiter.   We’ll see the rest of the planets tomorrow.

We refueled and checked into our hotel.  Yet again, I had 16l/100km from my 560SEL.  I find it quite odd as this has been an easy day of driving.   In the day, we have covered 538km.

After a short break we went for our final dinner of the trip.  Walking along in the town, it was an amazing contrast between Coonamble and Coonabarabran.  Sadly Coonamble seemed like it was dying where Coonabarabran was a busy and vibrant town.   The populations are pretty similar.   I guess Coonabarabran has the activity for the telescope as well as tourism for Warrumbungle national park to give the local economy a boost.

Our final dinner was a succulent Chinese meal at a local restaurant.  It has superb over the top decor that reminded me of restaurants in the 80s.   Apparently it had been imported from Hong Kong.   In any case the food was excellent, and it reminded me of the meal we ate in Leeton two years ago on the Concours Run.

The post Longreach Trip – Day 7 – Inland Northern NSW and Warrumbungle NP appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I’ve never been that far from the coast in Queensland, so this trip was an opportunity to see a totally different part of the country in our classic cars.   The last three events have been built around an event or car show.  This year it is more about the drive and the places we will see along the way.  It is also a longer trip than we have done before, at 8 days.

Ultimately, the furthest point from home will be Longreach, Queensland.   As with last year, all the cars will be classic Mercedes.  This is not a requirement, cars just have to be 30 years or older and able to cruise at motorway speeds.   On the trip we will have four 126s (2x 380SEC, 560SEC, 560SEL), two 123s (2x 280CE) and a 124 (320CE) with a 126 420SEL making a cameo appearance.

The idea is that we will mostly hug the great dividing range on the way up, before taking the more inland route back home.  The most direct route to Longreach and back only covers 3,367km.

Day 0

We learned on the first of these trips that it is a bad idea trying to get out of Sydney on Day 1.  Too much time in heavy traffic.   Therefore, everyone is going to make their own way to Maitland, where we will start the journey proper.

Those wanting to keep to the spirit of avoiding motorways, can take the old Pacific Highway.   While the exact distance will be different for everyone, I will be covering around 185km.

Day 1

Originally on the first day, we were to start in Maitland, and take The Bucketts way up towards Gloucester, before turning onto Thunderbolts way.    Thunderbolts way is a good drive and I tested quite a bit of this route on my way to Queensland earlier this year.  However, in late May, major floods in the area destroyed about 40km of Thunderbolts way.  It is still not repaired.

There are not really other sealed roads through this area.   Therefore, we had to deviate back to the A1 on the coast, until we hit the Oxley Highway (B56), and go inland.   The Oxley highway is apparently a great driving road, and I considered it when originally designing the route.   I didn’t use it for time and distance constraints.   The destruction of part of the Thunderbolts way forced my hand.

The original plan was to take all of Waterfall way (B78) back towards the coast.   Instead, we are now going to about half of Waterfall Way – as far as Dorrigo.   We’ll then take Armidale road up towards our destination in Grafton.   Our total distance will be 727km, 120 more than planned.

The new route should be just as good, but we’ll need to start early and we’ll finish later than I would prefer.

Day 2

On day 2, we’ll cover 621km.  We’ll start in Grafton, and take The Gwydir Highway inland towards Inverell.   This is also apparently a great driving road.   At Inverell, we’ll go and see the National Transport Museum.   This looks to be a great automotive museum.

From Inverell, we’ll head north via the back roads and finish our day in Boonah, about an hour out of Brisbane.  We will have covered 621km.

Day 3

On day three, we’ll start by skirting Brisbane, before taking the scenic Mt Nebo road west, and drive past Lake Wivenhoe.   We’ll travel through Esk, before heading northwards.  We’ll head through Queensland towns such as Yarraman, Nanango and Durong before finally arriving at our destination in Monto.  Day three covers 611km.

Day 4

Day four takes us westwards.  We’ll move from the undulating countryside near the great dividing range into outback Queensland.   Our route takes us through towns like Biloela, Bauhina and others, before arriving in Emerald for lunch.

In the afternoon, we’ll head west until we hit Barcaldine, which is our stop for the night.   This will be our longest distance day at 758km, but the roads will be mostly flat and straight.

Day 5

Day five gets us into Longreach, the furthest point from home.   In Longreach, we’ll check out the Qantas founders museum, plus check out the town.   Qantas is one of the oldest airlines in the world and started here in 1920.  The name (Queensland and Northern Territorial Aerial Service) still harks back to this origin.

The museum has a number of exhibits from the early days, including famous aircraft such as the DC3 and Lockheed Super Constellation, right through the aircraft from the Jet age such as the short body 707-138 and the 747-238B.  I can still remember seeing Longreach painted on the side of the Boeing 747s that were in operation.

In the afternoon, we’ll leave Longreach and start heading south.  We’ll pass back through Barcaldine, before turning off through Blackall and then finishing up in Tambo. We’ll have covered 424km.

Day 6

Day six will be another shorter day of driving, only 507km.   This is primarily due to this part of Australia being quite sparsely populated, and having to line up places to stay.

We’ll start out in Tambo, before driving south through Morven and Mitchell.   Our destination is St George.   We’ll have most of the afternoon free to explore the town.

Day 7

On day seven, we’ll continue to head south.  We’ll have breakfast in Dirranbandi, before heading south to Lightening Ridge, an opal mining town.   We’ll stop for about an hour in Lightening Ridge.

After that we’ll continue south through Walgett and stop for Lunch in Coonamble.   In the afternoon, we’ll head past Warrumbungle National Park, stopping at Whitegum lookout and Siding Spring Observatory.   The virtual solar system is located around Coonabarabran, the astronomy capital of Australia.   Day seven covers 542km.

Day 8

Our final day has us heading out of Coonabarabran, past the rest of the virtual solar system.   We’ll take Bylong Vally way towards Jerry’s plains, where we’ll stop for Lunch.   From there, we’ll do our final leg down the Putty Road, before splitting up at Windsor.   With the added distance, we should have covered close to 5,000km by the time we head home, and I’ll have covered 566km on the final day.

The post Planning a 4,800km road trip to outback Queensland appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The trip to Brisbane was fairly last minute.   There was a car I wanted to go and have a look at.  Most people would fly up, but I decided to drive.  I fly a lot for work and have come to really hate the flying experience.   Its something I would only want to do if paid to, or the distances make it a necessity.   Since the 240D was all fixed up with the new fuel tank and rebuilt brakes, it also felt like a good opportunity to experience the car on the open road.

Before I left on Saturday morning, I brimmed the tank and set off.   My destination was Warwick, QLD.   I planned to take the inland route.   I took the motorway until just past Newcastle, before turning off onto the Buckets Way.   The 240D did well on the motorway and was quite happy to cruise at motorway speeds.  There were a couple of hills where the speed dropped, but now all the algae is out of the tank, it was generally able to cruise up all but the steepest hills with traffic.

The Buckets Way is a scenic undulating road that was a nice break from the motorway.   From there, I continued onto Thunderbolts way, which was very pleasant to drive on.   The traffic was minimal and the 240D was able to handle the twisty sections very well.   For quite a while I was driving behind a modern SUV.   The 240D was able to go around corners faster and with more comfort, since it is not so top heavy.  It also has more comfortable suspension, you could really see the SUV bouncing around.   It was only on steep uphill sections where it would get away.  I was always able to catch up again.

After Thunderbolts Way, I took the New England Highway, which I also enjoyed.   There was one very steep section where the 240D struggled a little.   On hills, the redline in each gear becomes important.   On medium sized hills, it can only maintain speed in 3rd gear.  Redline for 3rd gear is 100km/h, so it can sit at around 90km/h.   On steep hills, redline for 2nd gear is 60km/h, so it can sit around 50km/h.   Going around Black mountain, there was a section where I had to maintain 50 for a while.   However, on the whole drive I probably lost perhaps 10 minutes at most – the 240D did better than I thought it would on the twisty and hilly roads.   This was all with the A/C on.   I passed far more cars than passed me.

Traffic got a bit heaver around Glen Innes, but overall this route was nice and peaceful and a great way to drive up to Brisbane, even during school holidays.   The weather was quite rainy, but the 240D handled it well.   I had put on new wipers before I left, and they cleaned the windscreen very well.  I ordered them for the car, but they were a few cm shorter than the ones I took off, so the overlap wasn’t quite as good as it should be.   Perhaps they sent me the wipers for the coupe.

By the time I reached Warwick, I had covered 787km and still had about a quarter of a tank showing.   I expected it was a bit less than that, as I have the normal W123 grounding issue in the instrument cluster that also causes the temperature gauge to read a bit high.   Something to fix.

I had driven all day in the W123 and I was comfortable and and didn’t feel tired when I arrived.   The next morning I filled up the car – using 70.53l and 8.96l/100km.   I think this is very good given I wasn’t trying to save fuel and I spent much of the day at full throttle.

I then drove into Brisbane to meet some friends at the Brisbane Car Museum and for lunch.  On the way I happened to pass the XXXX brewery.   Since one of the friends I was meeting had moved up to Brisbane, I had been joking about him needing to start drinking XXXX now he’s a Queenslander.  A photo outside the place was a must.

We met for lunch and then headed over to the museum, where we also randomly met another MBCQ member.   I’ve covered the museum separately here.   After the museum, we went and checked out each others cars in a local park.  We had two W126 (560SEL and 420SEL) and two W123 (230E and my 240D).    Given the trip was such late notice, it was great to catch up.

The next morning, after I checked out the car that was the main driver of the trip, I got on the road at about 11am.   Since I had to get back that day, I took the motorway.   It had been more than 10 years since I did this drive and it has changed a lot.   The last time was when I purchased my 1970 Citroen DS21 back in 2013.   These days most of the towns have been bypassed.   There is still a big section around Coffs Harbour and another big section south of Raymond Terrace that are surface streets, but the majority of it is divided highway.

It is far more stressful to drive than the inland route.  The speed limit is constantly changing down to 100km/h or even 90km/h for no apparent reason, other than to provide a place for aggressive revenue raising speed enforcement.   The traffic is much thicker, often with gormless SUVs that randomly slow down or speed up for reasons only known to themselves.

I refueled just before I reached the NSW border.  The prices seemed quite a bit cheaper in Queensland.  In my time driving around Brisbane, covered 287km at 8.71l/100km.  That was a combination of city traffic as well as the open road, with the A/C on max the whole time.

The rest of the trip back was fairly uneventful.   The 240D just cruised along at the freeway speed, happy to overtake the SUVs as we went.  I was impressed that the car could cruise at just under 90% of its top speed for hours at a time without issue.  Not many 40 year old cars could do that.   The W123 is a very comfortable place and I did the drive with two breaks for lunch and dinner.   The car is a little noisy at motorway speeds, but it is very happy.

I even noticed that when driving up the steep hill on the southern side of the Mooney Mooney bridge, I was able to cruise up in fourth gear with no problem.  When I first bought the car, it could not maintain these speeds.  I guess that is mostly due to the clogged fuel strainer, but a good long run like this can’t have hurt either.   On the trip I passed 190,000km on the car.

Once I passed Gosford, I started to wonder what my fuel situation was like.  It was still showing about a 3rd of a tank, which seemed too high.  I figured if my consumption was the same as the way up, I should be able to get home on one tank, but I was expecting it to read lower.  I put this down to the grounding issue that causes the temperature gauge to read high.  There are not really any petrol stations along the motorway in this section, so I kept going.  It was 11pm, so most of the local service stations were closed.

It turns out I should have paid more attention to this, and turned off to refuel.  I ran out of fuel less than 20km from my home and about 4km from a 24 hour petrol station.  Since I was on a main road (but not motorway) – the NRMA would not send out a patrol with 5 liters of fuel, I had to be towed off the main road before they were allowed to help.   That seemed odd to me, but it was less than an hour from running out of fuel to being on my way again.  The tow truck dropped me off at the 24 hour service station.

Many cars advertise a theoretical fuel tank size, and not all of it is accessible.  I was curious to see how many liters I would put in from empty.  Turns out it is all accessible, as I put in 80.56l.   Driving at motorway speeds used more diesel than the twisty roads, in this case 9.5l per 100km.   It wasn’t a busy night, so it was less than an hour from breakdown to being back on the road, including priming the fuel system.

I arrived back home at 11:30pm.   While I have other cars that are probably better road trip cars, the 240D did incredibly well.  I thoroughly enjoyed taking it on a road trip and would be happy to do so again.   There is an event for the 50 year anniversary of the W123 in Canberra in January 2025 that I plan to attend in the 240D.

On the trip I wondered if I would see many other classics on the road, particularly classic Mercedes-Benz.  However, I only saw one in Brisbane, besides the group I met up with.   It was a 420SEC.  Of all the cars to see, the 420SEC would not have been my guess due to its very low production numbers and that it was never sold new in Australia.   Yet there it was in daily use.

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We stayed in the pub in Bombala.  I generally only book places that have private bathrooms, so I must have missed that it didn’t.   Having said that he rooms were very nice and the food was great.  The bed was the most comfortable of the trip.

As we drove out of Bombala, the sun was rising over the Monaro region.   The sunrise illustrated the high country landscape and the farms along the route.   The road was great and the cars were running well.

Originally we planned to drive to Bredbo, but we decided to refuel in Cooma instead.   This worked out well, as while Bredbo has a pie shop, it does not seem to have a service station.  In Cooma, we filled up all the cars and had breakfast at McDonalds.

After all the troubles I had with my car the day before, it was going very well.  I was getting occasional noise from my rear left wheel when turning, but none of the previous issue.   The noise was also different.  The noise led me to believe that its probably not a wheel bearing issue.   I suspect part of the handbrake mechanism, perhaps that little spring, has come loose.  It is probably moving around as I corner and the ends of the lug nuts are scraping against it.

A few people were very keen to get home by dinner time, and one of our group had a flight to catch, so we had fewer and shorter breaks today to move along.   Everyone was keep to complete the full route then be home for dinner.

We continued north, through the outskirts of Canberra and then up through Gunning and Crookwell.   Crookwell was our lunch stop, at another Bakery.   The lamb pie was the best I’ve had all trip and the Vanilla slice was good, although a little too much icing for my liking.

The road from Crookwell up to Georges Plain was excellent, full of long sweeping curves, elevation changes and great scenery.   The only downside was that there were many caravans on the road, and a Nissan Patrol that couldn’t climb hills.   One of the guys is interested in buying a 280CE, so had a turn of the white car during this section and thoroughly enjoyed it.

It was around here that the 380SEC started playing up more.   So far it had only given issues while idling.  However, on multiple occasions it cut out while at road speed.   Most of the time it would restart while coasting in neutral, but not always.  Luckily there was not much traffic on the road.

As we passed through Perthville, we saw a 450SLC for sale by the side of the road.   One of the guys went back to have a look it it, and it was in a sorry state.   Rust in the firewall, chassis rails, holes in the floor and more.   It was a D-Jet car and a sad way for an early 450SLC to go.    I suspect its destiny is a wrecking yard like the one we saw on Saturday.

After a good drive though to Lake Lyell, we all went our separate ways.   A couple of us refueled in Lithgow, and then took Bells Line of road back.   I hate the Great Western Highway with a passion, so Bells line was the obvious choice.  It was very foggy, but the traffic was light and it was a fairly relaxed cruise home the back way.

After I rolled into the garage, I checked my odometer and I had travelled 3,883km in 6 days.  My 450SLC is now almost at 318,000km.   I have a few things to attend to.   Obviously the noise from the wheel, whatever it is.   The A/C, and the starter motor has started playing up, not always engaging.

All the cars and drivers made it back home safely.

Overall, the trip was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was a great break from work and we saw a lot of Australia I have never seen before.

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